0 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,000 ♫ 1 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:37,000 All roads lead to Rome. 2 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Remember? 3 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Okay. 4 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:44,000 But of all those roads, those that were commercial routes... 5 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Well, let's say that all of them passed through Constantinople. 6 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:50,000 And? What? 7 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Well, let them pass. 8 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,000 What does it matter? 9 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:59,000 It turns out, Pippo, that by the fourth century AD, the world had changed a lot. 10 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:04,000 To sustain the wealth, it was no longer enough to conquer, loot and dominate territories. 11 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Now there was another way to generate wealth. 12 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Merchandise trade with the Far East. 13 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Many people on this side of the world wanted things that were only produced on this other side of the world. 14 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:25,000 And these people, of course, very well, wanted things that only these had. 15 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Especially gold and silver, which had accumulated for many centuries. 16 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,000 As the distances between one side and the other of the world were immense, 17 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,000 and traveling at that time was very dangerous, 18 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,000 only a few commercial routes connected these two worlds. 19 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:43,000 And you know what? 20 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Yes, all those routes passed through the city of... 21 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 Constantinople. 22 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Which had become a gigantic funnel where, on one side, all the goods were gathered, 23 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:59,000 and on the other, they were distributed throughout Europe and North Africa. 24 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:04,000 That's how it was, my dear, how slowly power and wealth 25 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:08,000 stopped being in the hands of those who held the most powerful army 26 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,000 and began to be in those who controlled the trade. 27 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:25,000 The magnificent and impenetrable city of Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. 28 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Being located right between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, 29 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Constantinople was something like a great natural gateway 30 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,000 that connected the West with the world of the Far East. 31 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,000 But who lived in Constantinople? 32 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 How did the powerful Byzantine Empire originate? 33 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 See it in True Truths. 34 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 To solve this riddle, let's go once again to ancient Rome. 35 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 In 330 AD, a man named Constantine 36 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 was emperor of the legendary Roman Empire. 37 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Constantinople was hit by complicated and turbulent times. 38 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:06,000 On one side, the barbaric Germanic peoples were advancing unstoppably towards Rome. 39 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And on the other side, there was a group of Roman citizens 40 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,000 who, tired of violence, found in the Christian religion 41 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,000 a refuge to escape such oppression. 42 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000 The first thing Constantine did was move the capital of the empire 43 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 to a safe and strategic place. 44 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,000 This is how he founded the new Rome. 45 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Although after his death, this city was renamed Constantinople in honor of him. 46 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Of course! Constantinople! 47 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:38,000 Pippo! 48 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Oh, sorry. 49 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,000 Then he did something totally revolutionary. 50 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,000 He was the first Roman emperor in history to adopt the Christian religion. 51 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:53,000 This allowed many Romans to practice Christianity freely 52 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000 without fear of being persecuted or imprisoned for it. 53 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Of course, the proud Romans who still lived in Rome 54 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,000 were not very happy with all these decisions. 55 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000 I don't agree. 56 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,000 They want to move us to a place called Constantin... 57 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,000 Quistantro... 58 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Constantin... 59 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Ha! 60 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,000 It's hard to pronounce. 61 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Faced with so much discontent in the year 395 AD, 62 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 a successor of the great Constantine, the emperor Theodosius, 63 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 had to divide the empire into two parts. 64 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,000 The eastern one with capital in Constantinople 65 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,000 and the western one with capital in ancient Rome. 66 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,000 And he designated his two sons as heirs of those two empires. 67 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,000 But the western empire already had its days counted 68 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,000 and nothing could stop its inevitable end. 69 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:48,000 In the year 476, Rome was invaded, looted and destroyed 70 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 by an army of German barbarians. 71 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Along with the fall of Rome, the western empire was totally dismembered. 72 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Thanks to its strategic location, the eastern half of the Roman Empire 73 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,000 prospered and prospered year after year 74 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:16,000 and became the Byzantine Empire, which lasted more than a thousand years. 75 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,000 At the beginning of the sixth century, Byzantium had its first great emperor. 76 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,000 This was Justinian the Great. 77 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,000 Justinian had a lot of work, since he ruled... 78 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Listen to this! 79 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,000 ...for 38 years. 80 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,000 Wow! 81 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,000 Justinian took the money that was left thanks to trade 82 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,000 and with it, he ordered to make great works. 83 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:43,000 First, he built the most important war fleet of the Mediterranean Sea 84 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:49,000 and with it, he protected all the merchant ships from the pirates' loot. 85 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Also, he conquered a lot of territories, including Italy, Greece, Turkey, 86 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000 parts of Spain, Africa and Egypt. 87 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,000 A territory so extensive that united people of so many cultures and religions 88 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,000 was very difficult to keep together. 89 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,000 Justinian was aware that the union of the empire 90 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,000 would be achieved only with the union in religion. 91 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 Then, he took advantage of the influential Christian religion 92 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:21,000 and forced all the inhabitants of his empire to adopt Christianity as the only religion. 93 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,000 He also ordered to build a lot of churches. 94 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,000 No way that someone still had doubts about which temple they had to go to pray to. 95 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,000 THE TWO CHURCHES 96 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Emperor Justinian I built fortresses and supported art in all his manifestations. 97 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,000 His masterpiece was the construction of the Church of Santa Sofia, 98 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:53,000 a building that is almost a miracle of architecture. 99 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:58,000 Its dome measures 30 meters in diameter and rises up to 50 meters in height. 100 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,000 And that's not all. 101 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,000 By the way this dome is held, it seems to float in the air. 102 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 This church was the symbol of the union and strengthening of the empire under the Christian religion. 103 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,000 But outside the empire, specifically in the famous Rome, 104 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 lived the head of the Catholic Church, called the Pope, 105 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000 who ruled the entire Catholic world since the Vatican. 106 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,000 It turns out that the popes of that time did not like the power 107 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,000 that Justinian began to have over his faithful. 108 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,000 Now I don't understand anything. 109 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 Weren't they all Christians? 110 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Yes, Pippo, they were all Christians. 111 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:43,000 But the popes in Rome wanted absolute control of all the Christians in the world, 112 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:49,000 imposing such things as the way of teaching the Bible or the language in which one should pray. 113 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,000 And they didn't like to see how the fortified churches of the Byzantine Empire 114 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,000 made decisions on their own. 115 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:03,000 Thus, the old skirmishes between the East and the West became present again. 116 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000 It was then that Christianity was divided into two large fractions. 117 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,000 On the one hand, the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church. 118 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,000 And on the other, those who did not want to be under the orders of the Vatican, 119 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,000 the Orthodox Apostolic Catholic Church. 120 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,000 The Crisis of the Empire 121 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:31,000 Byzantium controlled the most coveted territories in the world known to that time. 122 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,000 After the death of Justinian, none of the emperors who succeeded him 123 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:41,000 managed to maintain what he had achieved, and the borders of the empire were weakened. 124 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,000 In the 7th century, the Lombards threw them out of Italy. 125 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,000 The Slavs from the Balkans. 126 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:54,000 And the powerful forces of Islam conquered the provinces of Syria, Palestine, and Persia. 127 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,000 The Byzantine Empire was entering a phase of frank retreat. 128 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,000 Against so many enemies, who can? 129 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,000 So many wars made it unsustainable to maintain the army. 130 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Plagues and epidemics decimated the population. 131 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:13,000 And as if all this were not enough, during the 8th and 9th centuries, 132 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,000 many civil wars broke the solidity of the empire. 133 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Faced with this disastrous scenario, in the 11th century, 134 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 the Turks, who had already taken the city of Jerusalem, 135 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,000 threatened to invade the empire from the east. 136 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:33,000 Then, Emperor Alejo I was forced to ask for help! 137 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,000 And who knows who he went to. 138 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,000 And yes, he called the Pope who ruled the Church of Rome, 139 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,000 and who was one of the most powerful men of that time. 140 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Of course, at that time there were no telephones. 141 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Alejo told him, 142 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,000 Dear Pope Urban II, we are in trouble. 143 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:59,000 This request for help was categorical and gave rise to the Crusades. 144 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. 145 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000 Although its name meant the city of peace, 146 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,000 no other city in the world has shed so much blood. 147 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,000 Do you remember? 148 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,000 Jerusalem was the city founded by the Hebrews on their promised land. 149 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Well, it turns out that there was also the Holy Sepulchre of Christ, 150 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,000 so it was also a city very desired by Christians. 151 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,000 But in the year 1071, it had fallen into the hands of the Turks, 152 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:38,000 and they did not allow any Christian to approach the Sacred Tomb of Jesus. 153 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:43,000 Pope Urban II summoned all the nobles of Europe and said, 154 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:49,000 God asks us to go and rescue the Holy Land from the hands of Islam. 155 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:53,000 This is how, in the name of God, kings, dukes and princes 156 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,000 from many different places in Europe organized armies 157 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,000 that undertook the long journey to the Middle East 158 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,000 in order to liberate Jerusalem. 159 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 These tremendous wars that began in the year 1096 160 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:13,000 and lasted more than two centuries were known as the Crusades. 161 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,000 Once the religious goal was achieved, 162 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,000 the European nobles saw that they had a great possibility at hand. 163 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,000 Why not conquer Constantinople once and for all 164 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,000 and end the powerful Roman Empire of the East forever? 165 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:34,000 This is how, in 1204, the Crusaders, with the support of the Vatican, 166 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,000 launched themselves on Constantinople 167 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:41,000 and decreed the obedience of the Church of Byzantium to the power of Rome. 168 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,000 Although this occupation lasted only 60 years, 169 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,000 the Byzantine Empire was increasingly convinced 170 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,000 that its cousins from the West would never be its allies 171 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,000 and that they should face only those difficulties that came their way, 172 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:00,000 since from the South, the threat of the Turks advanced like a hurricane. 173 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,000 With an army superior to the entire population of Constantinople, 174 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000 in April 1453, 175 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,000 Mohammed II, Sultan of the Turks, 176 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,000 set up his tent in front of the city gate, 177 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:24,000 determined to enter or die. 178 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 The Byzantines hoped that the gigantic walls 179 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,000 could contain the enemy once again. 180 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,000 In the middle of the battle, 181 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Mohammed discovered his secret weapon, 182 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:41,000 a gigantic cannon that they say had to be dragged by 300 oxen 183 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,000 and launched projectiles of almost half a ton 184 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:48,000 at a distance of more than 1,000 meters. 185 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,000 On their trips through China, 186 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,000 the Turks had discovered a powerful invention, 187 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,000 the gunpowder. 188 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,000 On May 29, 1453, 189 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,000 after two uninterrupted months of fighting, 190 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,000 the Turks entered the city half-destroyed. 191 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,000 Mohammed II took control of Constantinople 192 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:14,000 and turned it into the capital of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. 193 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,000 Then they changed its name to Istanbul, 194 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,000 one of the most important cities in Turkey. 195 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,000 For more than 1,000 years, 196 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Byzantium was the axis that joined trade between Europe and the East. 197 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,000 It was a bridge that connected the enormous riches 198 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 from very distant countries, 199 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:43,000 especially from China and India. 200 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,000 When it fell into the hands of the Turks, 201 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,000 this bridge broke. 202 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,000 And all of Europe was desperate to find new trade routes. 203 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,000 This is how many adventurers and explorers emerged. 204 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,000 Thirty-nine years later after the fall of Constantinople, 205 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,000 a Spanish expedition under the command of Cristóbal Colón 206 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,000 set sail. 207 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:10,000 Colón was convinced that the world was round. 208 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,000 Yes, yes, of course, round like this ball. 209 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,000 And sailing to the West, 210 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,000 at some point you could get to the East. 211 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,000 Colón was right, 212 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,000 although in his calculations he did not see a huge obstacle. 213 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,000 Yes, on his journey to the East, 214 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,000 Colón came across an entire continent 215 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,000 that Europe did not know at all. 216 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,000 Although he believed he would reach India, 217 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,000 those lands were America. 218 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:41,000 And his discovery started a whole new stage 219 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,000 in the history of civilizations. 220 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Transcription by ESO. 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